You bake one kind of cookie and give all the other guests a half-dozen or so to take home, and they do the same. If you bring 6 dozen of one kind of cookie, you will bring home 6 dozen assorted cookies!

Keep in mind, this may take 2 to 4 weeks to set up, including planning.

• Invitations or check out our Pink & Brown themed Cookie Exchange Party Invitation
• Refreshments like a Hot Cocoa Bar or Mimosa Bar
• Christmas Candy and Holiday Appetizers
• Table for Displaying Your Guests Cookies 
• Party Favors  (Optional But Fun)
• Best of cookie exchange voting cards
• Paper Place cards with Numbers (Every platter will have a number for voting)
• Or use our Pink and Brown Themed Cookie exchange Place card

1. 1. At least 4 weeks ahead of time: Make your guest list.
   2. Invitations: Send your guests printed Cookie Exchange Party Invitations with the instructions and rules. Electronic invites work well and people can reply with their cookie type in the comments.
   3. Determine how many cookies each guest needs to make. Since our parties can be pretty big we usually ask our guests to bring 6 dozen cookies and then do the math once everyone is at the party to determine how many each person gets from each flavor. 
   4. Types of Cookies You can have your guests tell you what kind of cookies they plan to make in advance so you don’t have multiples of the same type. 
   5. The presentation is a big thing for our party.  Make sure you have your guests bring their cookies on a decorated platter of choice.  Check out some of the best cookie displays from past parties. 
   6. Think about how the guests will get the cookies home.       One option is to have each guest empty container to fill everyone’s cookies. Or you can buy inexpensive tin trays for your guests to fill up.  Some people like to bring small sandwich size Ziploc bags to separate flavors/ or peanut-free cookies. 
   7. Games, Games Games.  No cookie exchange party of mine is not complete without a couple of holiday games before we swap cookies. 

In the past, I had every guest send me their recipe in advance and I made a cookbook as a party favor.  Now we just ask if the recipe contains nuts and add a sticker to each place card. 

What happens at a Cookie Exchange?

Set up a special table to display everyone’s cookies along with a place card with a number on it.  Have a separate sticker for guests to add to designate nuts if that is an issue with guests. Print out these Cookie exchange Place card pink and brown

• 1- 30 minutes into party I typically use the first 30 minutes for socializing, cookie set up and eating. 
• 20 minutes in I might hand out an “Ice Breaker ” worksheet for people to get to know one another.
• 30 – 60 minutes . Games Games Games .  
• 60-90 minutes: Voting and Swapping Before anyone swaps cookies, hand out the voting cards and let guests vote for best cookie etc.  Print about our Pink Brown cookie exchange voting
• 

When should I host a Holiday Cookie Exchange

We have experimented with a lot of different times.  Most recently we have found a Sunday afternoon in December to be popular.  I attend another cookie exchange midweek around 7 pm. 

Don’t overthink it,  I often ask friends from different schools, kid age groups etc about a few dates to see if there are any major conflicts and go from there.  

What Should I Serve at My Cookie Exchange Party?